| chipple on Jul 23, 2003 at 10:01:39 PM (# 500) I was searching what the hell is Febuary and found this interesting page.
Common Errors in English
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~brians/errors/errors.html#errors
Holophrastic on Jul 24, 2003 at 12:34:42 AM (# 501)I'm interested to know what period of time and what region you are considering absolute "correct". I might be able to deduce this based upon what you've stated but I don't feel like it.
Very simply: the original English use of the word, plus evolutions due to technological or cultural advancement, and excluding alterations due to ignorance, lack of education, or misutterance.
And yes, U.S. English is incorrect. Color could be a different spelling for as long as you pronounce it like colon. But if you pronounce it as colour, you must spell it as colour.
But again, show me where in U.S. history colour became color. Show me a reputable publication, or otherwise logical reason for the change. If the change was lack of education, then welcome to the stupification of a nation -- greetings ebonics lovers.
And if your Spanish teacher has a Phd, he is a moron, and should not be teaching anything because 'Phd', pronounced 'f-d' has no value what-so-ever. If he has a Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D. then he is a professor.
As a student of language, he had better be disappointed with your lack of respect for his many years of study and effort.
And like I said before, if 100% of people are mistaken, it is still a mistake.
And like I said before, proper grammar eliminated ambiguity, increases comprehension speed and performance, and requires less effort to understand. It allows for safer driving, safer operation, and increased distraction.
MHenke on Jul 24, 2003 at 2:46:16 AM (# 502)I really enjoy this thread (self-evident i've doubts about some views that are so vehemently declaimed... :)
Reminds me of an aphorism (Stanislaw Jerzy Lec, probably it suffers from double translation):
"The pulpier the truth, the stiffer the standpoint".
Now we're on linguistics, well that's not my area; although i'm a convinced friend of propper syntax and semantic (so please, all of you, forgive my English, it's not my native tongue... :).
So let me come back to time (date) formats, Holo.
I must confess i don't care a pap if there are lowercase letters in military or if there's a radio code for colon.
My view of date and time formats is the pragmatic view of a programmer, and therefore i care about standards, and therefore i care about ISO 8601.
If i've to process time formats send by a partner (human or machine), we must agree on a common format, and ISO standards are most widely accepted.
So, if i've been told "we're sending time data according to [the] international standard", i'll process HH:MM:SS (and of course HHMMSS).
And if ISO (or whatever organisation publish such widely accepted standards) would've recommended the format "HH*<&&&>*MM[arbitrary crap]%%$SS", i'd have to live with it, never mind what i'd pers. think about it...
ja928 on Jul 24, 2003 at 4:55:53 AM (# 503)Since grammar and language are now the hot (off-)topic, here's a Winston Churchill quote mocking the supposed proper use of prepositions: "This is the sort of English up with which I will not put."
Monte on Jul 24, 2003 at 6:24:02 AM (# 504)Speaking of the bastardization of languages, did anyone see the article which was published earlier this year noting "new" words which were officially added to the dictionary? Words such as "frankenfood", "McJob", "Dead Presidents" and so forth.
http://stacks.msnbc.com/news/932921.asp
An excerpt:
"A former dot-commer working a McJob was listening to some headbangers while laying out the last of his dead presidents for longnecks and some less than heart-healthy Frankenfood."
kgayda on Jul 24, 2003 at 8:38:26 AM (# 505)
This message has been edited.DavidSilverlight I want to be a workaholic too. Unfortunately they won't allow me to consume alcohol at my workplace which is a shame since it would help me tolerate my AR alien of a boss. Is there an opening at your place?
DavidSilverlight on Jul 24, 2003 at 9:57:43 AM (# 506)Sure, they have some openings. It just so happens that I work at United Airlines as a pilot. Do you also have a pilot's licence? It really does make it easier to tolerate the passengers.
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